Abyss

by Bethany Adams

  He rubbed a hand across the ache that remained. It had been pure agony to drive to the parking lot near the base of the mountain, but Vek had no clue how to operate a car. Or much of any technology designed by humans. Despite the splinter of pain digging into his chest with each step, Fen smiled. Showing his uncle how to use a television had been one of the few highlights of this mess, though they’d mock-argued the whole time. Maybe eventually, Fen could taunt him into trying video games.

  Hope I’m alive to do it.

  “We’re almost there,” Fen said, pulling a deep breath into his straining lungs.

  Vek eyed him worriedly. “I can’t believe you let that remark pass.”

  “Hard to argue with the truth.” Fen paused to examine the small clearing in front of the cave entrance. Flowers waved in the wind as they soaked up the mid-morning sun, and birds chirped in the nearby trees, unconcerned with their presence. “We should have been here hours ago. I hate approaching this place in the sunlight where anyone can see.”

  “It took far too long for your scratches to heal,” Vek said. “With my blood, they should have been gone in moments.”

  Another truth Fen couldn’t dispute. He glanced at his uncle, who studied the clearing with his own frown of concern. Vek’s face and neck had reddened with the climb despite being under the cover of trees. Hadn’t anyone ever told him about sunblock? Damned Unseelie thought they knew everything, but they couldn’t even keep themselves from getting a sunburn.

  Vek caught him staring and scowled. “What?”

  “Have you seriously not devised a spell to protect your skin from the sun?” Fen let a sneer wrinkle his nose, though he was more amused than anything. “The humans have a cream to help with that if you’re not up to it.”

  His uncle made a dismissive gesture. “Why bother? We are never above ground.”

  “I hate to be the one to break it to you, but…” Fen waved his own hands at the clearing and leaned closer, lowering his voice. “We are above ground. There. I said it.”

  “Fuck off,” Vek muttered before striding toward the cave’s entrance.

  But Fen caught a hint of affection in the insult.

  He smiled again as he followed his uncle across the small meadow. He had to admit that Vek was growing on him, too. After Fen’s mother had abandoned him, he’d assumed the rest of his family didn’t care. Vek’s sporadic visits had seemed to confirm that, but now he couldn’t help but wonder if there’d been more to his uncle’s lack of attention than Fen had understood as a child. Perhaps someday he would ask.

  They made their way through the short tunnel easily enough, but Vek halted just inside the cavern opening, so abruptly that Fen almost crashed into him. It didn’t take long to see why. In the center of the large expanse, two men stood.

  Well, shit. Not them.

  One had short red hair and a ready scowl, but despite his unfriendly expression, something about him had always triggered an affinity in Fen. Not so the other. He hovered just off the floor of the cave with his shoulders back and chin tipped up, his noble aloofness a fine complement to his long pale hair. Caolte and Naomh, the Seelie nobles who’d helped Kien enact his foul plan.

  Fen shifted to his uncle’s side, but Vek lifted a hand in warning. “If it isn’t Lord Naomh and his little brother Caolte,” his uncle drawled. No affection in his tone now. “I should have expected to find you here. You Seelie love to talk about how good and honorable you are, but I’ve sensed your energy in this mess more than once.”

  Caolte stepped in front of his brother. “You should not be here.”

  “I’ve as much right as you do,” Vek retorted.

  “Stand down, Caolte.” Naomh waited for his brother to return to his side before speaking again. “One of Kien’s toys is with the Unseelie. Here to finish what that fiend started, boy?”

  Fen snorted. “You’re one to talk. Didn’t you help create that invisibility cloak that the others used to slip into Moranaia? One of those cloaks was used in the assassination attempt on your own son. Kai, right? He seems like a nice guy.”

  Naomh stiffened, his hands clenching at his sides. “What did you say?”

  “Kai is a nice guy. He deserves a better—”

  “Before that,” Naomh snapped.

  “One of the half-bloods Kien sent to Moranaia was ordered by Allafon to kill Kai.” Fen thought back to those terrible days in Kien’s camp. He’d been so ready to escape but so helpless to figure out how. “Kien was furious about it. Of course, if any of us had known that Kai was your son, I’m sure he would have been much more pleased about the attack.”

  Caolte let out a low growl. “How does someone like you know of our relation to Kai?”

  “When you live with a maniac, you learn how to listen to the right people.” Fen met Naomh’s heated gaze. “Guess you weren’t aware of what happened to your son. Not close, I take it?”

  Naomh lifted a hand, and a stalagmite speared up from the ground a few inches from Fen’s right side. Jeez. The Seelie Sidhe had such a poor sense of humor. But Fen refused to be intimidated, especially after an infusion of energy from his powerful uncle. He flicked his fingers, and the stalagmite crumbled into dust. Unfortunately, his heart ached as though it might shatter, too. Only his years with Kien kept the pain from his expression.

  Far from upset, the Sidhe lord let his hand drop and granted a slight smile. “Well done, youngling. I can see why Kien recruited you.”

  “What are you doing here?” Vek demanded suddenly, and Fen got the distinct impression that Naomh’s praise bothered him. Which made no sense. “By all accounts, you cut ties with Kien when you discovered the scope of his plan. Are you here to prove that rumor false?”

  Naomh grabbed Caolte’s shoulder, halting his brother when he attempted to rush forward. The Sidhe lord studied Vek and Fen with his cool gaze before he surprised Fen by letting some of his noble veneer drop. “You know why we’re here. If that wall shatters, many will die. Our people. Humans. The wave of energy won’t discriminate.”

  “I may be able to help,” Fen said.

  The Sidhe’s eyes narrowed. “Not in your state.”

  Fen’s skin heated in a flush, but he refused to cave. “I had to ingest some of Kien’s blood, and I was the one who connected him to Earth’s energy. Not that I wanted to,” he hurried to explain at Naomh’s scowl. “Prince Ralan ordered it to save Maddy. A young half-Sidhe, as a matter of fact.”

  “Surely not from the Seelie side,” Caolte said with a sneer.

  Vek’s hands clenched. “You iron-blasted hypocrite. You’re about as much Unseelie as Seelie. But I suppose you’d rather not claim your mother with her tainted blood.”

  Not even Naomh could hold him back then. Caolte shoved past his brother and launched himself across the cavern. Vek bared his fangs as Caolte flicked a ball of flame into his palm, but Fen was too surprised to do more than stare. A Seelie lord’s brother was part Unseelie? That sounded like a story he’d love to hear.

  “Stop,” Naomh called out.

  For a moment, the other two ignored him. But there had been an unusual edge, an urgency, to his tone. Then Fen sensed it—another wave of energy coming from the rift.

  “Vek,” Fen warned as the dizziness hit. “We’re too close. Shouldn’t have…”

  A surge of power. Pain.

  All he could do was scream.

  Aris woke with a start, Selia wrapped in his arms. Clechtan. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but he’d been more exhausted than he’d thought. According to the small water clock on the wall, they still had a mark before they were supposed to meet in Lyr’s study.

  The hatch in the ceiling rattled and the windows shook as Kezari’s wingbeats resounded above. Carefully, he disentangled himself from Selia and tucked the blanket around her as she burrowed into his pillow. It took him a moment to retrieve and don his clothes before he could head for the hatch. He cast a regretful glance at Selia, warm—and naked—in his bed and almost turned around. B
ut he needed to talk to Kezari, and there wasn’t much time before they had to go.

  As he triggered the stairs to descend with his magic, Aris combed his fingers through his hair and tied it back with a strap from his pocket. Then he climbed up into the cold night. The wind whipped more snarls in his long hair almost instantly, and his clothes dampened with the thick mist. He dismissed both sensations as he edged around Kezari’s large form to settle next to her foreleg.

  Without comment, she lifted her wing and curled it in front of his body, blocking the worst of the weather. Her wedge-shaped head bobbed as she stared into the trees around them, and if not for the wing shielding him, he might have assumed she didn’t know he was there. Something had to be bothering her.

  “What is it?” he whispered as he braided his hair with a few deft motions.

  One golden eye turned to face him. “My cousin betrayed me. I have no hoard now, not even what is mine by right.”

  Aris rested his cheek against her leg. “We’ll rebuild it.”

  “It is the betrayal more than the treasures, though I’ll miss those dearly.” Smoke streamed from her nostrils. “That is not the worst of it. They haven’t hunted Perim.”

  Bile scalded the back of his throat, but he swallowed it down. “Not good.”

  “I will find her when this is through,” Kezari insisted.

  “We will.” Aris clenched his hands to still their shaking. “I cannot let her rule me.”

  “Mating has been good for you.”

  That surprised a chuckle out of him. “I suppose so.”

  Her head tilted. “Why have you sought me out when you could be mating again?”

  Aris grinned. Elves weren’t shy about sex, but dragons took things to a new level. “How do you know I wasn’t coming up here for fresh air before waking Selia?”

  “This weather is not pleasant for your form,” she answered. “Not conducive to sitting on towers.”

  His humor faded. Her guess was correct—he did have a reason for coming up here. But she didn’t know why. He’d grown accustomed to her presence at the back of his mind, sometimes a shadow and sometimes firmly connected. She had retreated to the farthest edges when he’d joined with Selia, granting them privacy, and she hadn’t yet settled back into his thoughts.

  That intrusion should have bothered him. But with each drip that passed, Aris drew closer to Kezari. She’d seen his darkest side, his deepest secrets, and accepted them without question. She shoved him beyond his limitations and into possibility. He couldn’t mark the moment she’d become his friend, but she was.

  For that reason, he hesitated. But there was more he needed to know despite how much he hated to request the answers. “Kezari…”

  Her chest heaved at his back as she took a deep breath. “Ask.”

  “Why did you leave me in that cave for so long?”

  “I thought that might be on your mind, now that you are well enough to consider it.” Kezari’s eye closed, and her head lowered. “I am sorry, skizik. I should not have believed Perim’s lies. I’d been hibernating, trying to connect to the Earth to find the source of my constant discomfort. It wasn’t so bad then, but the changes consumed my attention. When she said you were barely an adult and needed training, I was almost…grateful.”

  Though Aris flinched, he didn’t interrupt.

  “I spent weeks following the trails of Earth energy. Years, I suppose.” Her snout tilted down until it almost brushed the roof of the tower. “Convenient, I thought, for you to be training while I discovered the truth of what was happening. I never bothered to see you, fearing I would be pulled to bind before I knew what I was going to do. Would that I had thought of anyone besides myself.”

  Aris rubbed a soothing hand along her foreleg as he processed her words. As much as he wanted to be angry, he found that he couldn’t summon the emotion. Only a well of sadness for what might have been. “Your desire to save Earth belies any selfishness.”

  “I did not begin with thoughts of our former world, only worry about my own discomfort.”

  Aris sighed. “Much change begins with our own discomfort. It is what we do once we examine the source that defines us.”

  “You are full of wisdom, skizik,” Kezari said, amusement slipping into her mental voice.

  “Not really.” Smiling slightly, he closed his eyes. “But I did spend hours alone on various expeditions. Do you know how much thinking you can do while tracking a newly discovered species of daeri across the northern planes to determine their migration patterns?”

  Her soft snort sounded around them. “New species of daeri?”

  He laughed at the interest in her tone. “Didn’t you find time to hunt before you came back? You didn’t seem grumpy enough to be hungry.”

  “One can never have enough daeri,” she grumbled in return. “Now go back below. I hear your mate stirring. Perhaps you can ease more tension before we leave.”

  Aris shook his head and chuckled at her words.

  But then he complied.

  Chapter 24

  Iren stared across the room at Eri where she perched on the edge of his bed. It was late, still several marks until morning, and they would both be in big trouble if their parents found out. He nibbled at his lower lip. Her plan had seemed so logical before he’d made up with his father. But in the quiet darkness of night, uneasiness crept into his stomach.

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

  Predictably, Eri didn’t look at all worried. “We’ll be seeing a lot of our rooms, but it’ll be worth it.”

  “Your onaial will stop us,” he argued.

  “Nope.” Eri grinned. “Lady Megelien said she blocked the strand. The goddess approves, so what could go wrong?”

  “Ah, Eri, why did you say that?” The lump in his stomach grew. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you how dangerous that phrase is?”

  She swung her legs, bouncing her feet against the side of his bed with a thump. He really should know better than to listen to a six-year-old, but he couldn’t help it. Eri was sweet, canny, and more persuasive than a little kid should be. She begged him with her eyes, and he did what she wanted. Of course, he usually liked her ideas. Unlike today.

  “Not when I say it. We need to be there. I promise.”

  Great. Now her lower lip was starting to poke out. “Yeah, yeah. I already said I’d go.”

  “You got the cloaks?”

  “Yeah.” Iren slumped in his desk chair. “Onaiala is going to be furious. She hasn’t finished working on these. They’ll keep us invisible, though.”

  Eri slid to the floor and darted around the side of the bed. She crouched down until only her eyes peaked over the top. “You’d better get back in bed and pretend to sleep. Your parents will check on you in a few drips.”

  A few drips? His heart leaped, and he rushed to the bed as Eri’s face disappeared over the side. Iren slipped between the covers and turned his back toward the door. He squeezed his eyes shut, but he could hear a soft rustling from Eri’s location, then a muffled thump beneath the edge of the bed. The mattress shook softly for a moment before all went quiet.

  Just as he evened his breathing, the door clicked open and footsteps sounded across the floor, some heavier than others. Both parents, then. Slow breath in. Slow breath out. Iren kept his muscles lax as his mother’s energy neared his back. The heavier footsteps continued as his father rounded to the other side.

  “I wish we could wake him,” his mother whispered.

  “If you prefer—”

  “He’ll argue to come with us.” She bent low and brushed a kiss across his forehead. “But the poison makes it unsafe. I just couldn’t leave without kissing him goodbye.”

  His father’s hand rested on his shoulder for a moment, and Iren almost opened his eyes to reassure them that he would be okay. They had to be worried about this mission. And here he was, planning to add to that stress without their knowledge. As his parents trudged out the door with heavy steps, guilt twisted the
lump in his stomach until he thought he’d throw up.

  Eri had better be right.

  Selia’s boots squished into the muddy path, and she gathered her cloak around her head to block out the drizzle falling through the trees. The mountains of Moranaia gave a whole new meaning to the season of rain. Rather than the flooding downpours of her homeland, the precipitation here was a near-constant annoyance. Thank the gods that the garden paths were largely stone, or the coming festival would be a mud bath.

  It was a relief to step through the portal behind Kai and Kezari. The mists swirled around the group, but despite the foggy appearance of the Veil, it didn’t have the same moisture. Or maybe it wasn’t as noticeable after the rain. Selia pushed the hood of her cloak back with a sigh. Ahead, Kezari’s skin morphed to golden scale, and she tipped her head back, a look of ecstasy on her face. But she managed to maintain her elven form.

  Aris wrapped his hand around Selia’s, and she cast him a quick smile. Then Kai pulled them through with a burst of energy. Almost at once, the mists faded, and bright light had Selia squinting as they exited the portal. Steamy heat enveloped her until she released Aris in order to tug her cloak free. One by one, they tucked their cloaks into gap in the ridge wall. Then Selia waved a hand over the space, hiding the contents from view.

  “Are you certain you can transport us to the cave without draining yourself?” Kai asked.

  Selia nodded, her hand slipping into her pocket for an energy crystal. Her body heated at the memory of how she’d recharged some of them, and a small smile crossed her lips. “I refilled these and grabbed a few extra.”

  “I could fly us.” Kezari rolled her shoulders as though flexing invisible wings. “The wind here feels divine.”